Fade to White: Act I- Fire and Ice
by Fragarach97
Summary: "Some say the world will end in fire, others in ice..." Two enigmatic young men crash land on Gamindustri with no memory of their past, nor of the world from whence they came. The only things they remember are their names and that they somehow knew each other. Who are they? Where did they come from? Perhaps the answer has something to do with a long extinct race: The Espers.
1. Chapter 1

_Some say that the world will end in fire,_

_others say in ice._

_from what I've tasted of desire,_

_I hold with those who favour fire._

_but if I had to perish twice,_

_I think I know enough of hatred_

_to say that for destruction ice_

_is also great_

_and would suffice._

_**Fade to White **__**Act I**_

_**Fire and Ice**_

_**Chapter 1- All That Begins…**_

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" a young man shouted as he sprinted down a vacant hallway. Though he was heard by his friend, his friend barely heard the words over the incessant alarm that filled the area. The area appeared to be a wing of a military fort... a military fort from _this_ time period that is. Sleek walls and oddly designed doors… they clearly weren't products of the twenty first century. The young man who'd shouted those words was quite tall; he stood a little over six feet and had the look about him of one who'd seen things that no one should have to see. His short, dark brown hair was combed straight and was soaked with sweat; his striking, ice blue eyes matched his exhausted expression. Whatever he was running from, it was clear that he'd been running from it for a while. He wore a closed, pitch black coloured jacket that seemed to be armoured on the shoulders and chest area with what appeared to be black metal in the shape of scales. Hanging around his neck was a charm necklace in the shape of a dragon, the dragon itself seemed to be made of a high-end silver and glimmered in the light. Decorating his legs was a pair of dark jeans that seemed to be reinforced with some other material, could be Kevlar fibers, or something more advanced…

"Shut up! They're gaining on us and we shouldn't be wasting our energy talking!" said the other young man. He appeared roughly the same age as his presumable friend, however he was not quite as tall as his friend. He had a head of pitch black hair which seemed to stand at attention; however it wasn't long enough to be considered a spike pit. If laid flat it would actually be shorter than his friends' hair. He had a pair of chocolate chip coloured eyes that bore the same exhausted expression that his friends had. Rather than at least being clothed in some form of armour, what he was wearing was completely casual. Despite his friends' metal scale armoured jacket, he didn't even wear the smallest amount of military related gear. Instead, he had a pitch black longcoat that matched the colour of his hair. The hood of the coat was down and had a unique gray coloured design. Beneath the long jacket he wore a perfectly clean white shirt, not even the smallest stain could be seen on the perfectly clean, cloud coloured fabric. To match the colour of his jacket, he wore a pair of stonewashed black jeans, it appears gray however it wasn't exactly the same as his jacket, but close enough.

"I can hear them… Reaver, draw your weapons, we're coming up on a dead end…" The one in the armoured jacket said as he took the cover off the blade of the large Glaive that he was carrying. It was an example of the ultimate combination of modern and ancient technology, not only was the overall design of the Glaive completely practical, but it also had enough capabilities to avoid the disadvantages it might have against a machine gun. At the butt end of the Glaive was an opening, an opening for a machine gun function, the magazine was held just twelve inches up the length of the great spear. The very shaft and blade appeared to be made of two different alloys, a light coloured, lighter weight alloy for the shaft, and a denser, yet more flexible alloy for the blade. Speaking of the blade, the very tip of it appeared to be hollow… but for what? Was there a hidden enhancement to the weapon? Either way, it was an absolutely beautiful weapon… the slick black design and the leather wrapping around the handle may not have contributed a lot to its practicality, but at least it would look pretty as it killed people!

"No need to tell me twice, Silas… we'll make our stand here. We may not stand a chance of survival, but at least we can take a whole lot of them to the grave with us!" From within his jacket, John produced what appeared to be a large handgun with multiple modifications, an M93 Raffica to be exact. It seemed to have an incredibly sleek design, the grip was thick, but that could only be concealing a lethal enhancement for the weapon. The gun was not the only weapon he drew; he also drew a blade from his side. It appeared to be made of the same alloy as Silas' Glaive; however it had some very different enhancements. One half of the swords crossguard was hollow at the end and had a trigger hanging off of it, making up a gun mechanism, the other half looked like it could disconnect, perhaps it was a charge used to electrify the blade? The hilt was wrapped in rubber so, if it was, he wouldn't feel any shock.

In summary, they both wielded highly advanced hybrid weapons. As they came to the dead end, they stopped and got into position. The moment the soldiers pursuing them turned the corner, both Silas and John began raining down bullets on them. The first three soldiers were gunned down but then the others took cover around the corner. "I'll lay down suppressing fire, advance on them with caution!" Silas said to Reaver just over the sounds of gunfire. He only had a couple other magazines for his Glaive so he wasn't sure how long he'd last… With a nod, Reaver got low and began to advance on the position of the other soldiers. Both of them had already resigned to the fate of death… but there was no way either of them were going to go out silently. 'Shit! Jam!' Silas thought as his eyes went wide and his Glaive stopped firing. "Reaver get behind something!" Silas shouted as the remaining soldiers turned the corner and began firing on them. There wasn't anything to hide behind; they were both as good as dead at this point…

"It's been an honour fighting with you…" Reaver said as he closed his eyes and braced himself for death… but then they vanished without a trace. The fired bullets met the back wall and the soldiers who fired them were paralyzed due to the shock.

"Wh-Where did they…?" The commander managed to whisper as he looked on at the spot where the cornered soldiers once stood. 'What happened? We were so close to executing those damn traitors…' The commander swiftly shook his head and turned to face his remaining men. "We have no choice… if we say we killed them, the general will ask for proof… We shall report exactly what happened to him." The commander said before walking right past his men, both living and dead. But… one obvious question plagued his mind…

Where did they vanish to?

Suddenly, they were falling from the sky, they were both too shocked to say a word, that and they didn't want any insects to fly into their mouths if they opened them. Eventually, Silas decided to speak up. "What in the hell happened? Are we dead? Never been religious but… are we falling into He-" Suddenly he stopped talking and began coughing and spitting as a bug had flown into his mouth. 'Urgh! I knew I shouldn't have started talking!' He thought as grimaced at that absolutely terrible taste. 'Well, I tasted that thing, so I guess I'm alive… though, at this height and with this velocity? Not for much longer!'

Reaver learned from Silas' great misfortune to cover his mouth before responding. "I don't think so, I mean look, I can make out a forest below and I don't think Hell is known for its extensive forests!" He said before they both fell out of the clouds and got a look at the landscape that would possibly claim their lives. It was… actually quite beautiful. Rolling hills, large forests, great lakes, and what might be a city could be spotted on the horizon. "I have no idea… probably not, I don't remember what we were doing that warranted _this, _but I don't think that we can escape death now! Unless you have a parachute that I don't know about…"

"Afraid not… I guess all we can do is hope a dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails is placed in an inexplicably convenient location to break our fall!" Well… seeing as how this is a Hyperdimension Neptunia fanfiction and Noire is the games' assigned landing pillow… what the hell do you think? Of course she's going to be there and of course I'm not going to kill of the two main characters in the first chapter of this fanfic! Oh no… you all are going to have to deal with them for _much _longer so get comfortable and grab some popcorn!

Well… looks like Silas was right, there was indeed a dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails conveniently placed right where he was going to land! But that wasn't going to happen now; I have to introduce the rest of the character cast first. These guys you ought to be familiar with though. So dark haired tsundere, okay that takes too long to type so I'm just going to give away her name, it's Noire if you haven't figured it out already, was out simply enjoying the great weather with her four other friends, if you could call them that. "Come on! Hurry up you guys before I leave you in the dust!" She called out to the others as they came over a hill. "It's about time… it took you all long enough."

"Awwww well aren't you little miss grumpy pants today? C'mon! At least let us enjoy the weather, little miss Noire…" A little girl with short purple hair and a lot of pep in her step said as she skipped over towards Noire. She seemed like the kind of person who always had a smile plastered on her face and it would take a lot in order to get her to frown even slightly. Someone like that was usually…very stupid.

"I'm not grumpy! I just don't feel like waiting around for you guys… sheesh Neptune…" Noire said with a roll of her eyes as she leaned up against a nearby oak tree and looked up at what little of the sky she could see. "There's a clearing up ahead and you don't always get this kind of weather so I want to hurry up and get there so we can look up at the clouds."

"Patience… you shall see your clouds soon enough." A blonde girl with breasts the size of record-breaking watermelons walked up the hill with a girl who had breasts the size of no breasts right behind her. "Look around you, the forest is beautiful enough as it is." She said as she surveyed the trees around her. Well… she was right; the forest was quite beautiful, especially on a perfect day like today.

"For once, I agree with the walking pair of tits, we'll walk at whatever pace we want. Go ahead if you want." The girl with the polar opposite size said with a sigh as she walked ahead of the quote 'walking pair of tits' known simply as Vert.

"Uhhhh… hey Blanc, where's Plutie? Did ya' leave her behind back at the river?" Neptune (AKA Neppy Nep) asked as she held her hands as a false pair of binoculars and searched for her airhead/sadist of a friend. Honestly… that girl couldn't find her way out of a cardboard box unless you gave her slow, painfully detailed instructions on how to get out and, even then, there was only a fifty-fifty chance of her figuring it out.

"I don't know, nor do I really care." The flat girl with short brown hair said simply as she sat down on a fallen log and pulled out a small book to read as a way to pass the time until the airhead showed up. Of course, knowing Plutia, they could be sitting there waiting for her for years, if they were lucky.

Oh? What's this? Looks like they were _obscenely _lucky this time around! Plutia showed up mere seconds after she was mentioned. The girl with light lavender hair ran towards them, waving her hand in the air and dragging a stuffed animal along the ground with her, poor little guy… "Hey guyyyyyyyys~! Wait for meeeeeeeeeee~!" She said as she finally caught up with the others. "I was sooooooo worried that I'd never catch up! Can you go slower next time? Please…?" She asked before turning her gaze up to the sky and tilting her head slightly to the left.

"We weren't going very fast… maybe you should pick up the pace next time instead." Noire huffed as she stood up and walked right into the middle of the path, right into the to-be landing zone… She could hear what sounded like voices… "Huh? Do you guys hear that? Or am I going crazy?"

"Noire… there are sky-people again! Just like Neppy!" Plutia said as she pointed her hand back up towards the sky, right at both Silas and Reaver as they descended to a height of a hundred meters above Noire's head and they were swiftly closing that distance.

"What do you… oh no not again!" Remember how I said she was in the landing zone? I lied. The spot right next to her was the landing zone and she instinctually stepped right into it, thinking that she was dodging someone falling from the sky. WRONG! Poor Noire… I sincerely apologize, but this is your role as assigned to you by the game.

And now the moment you've all been waiting for! With a massive crash, Silas came down right onto Noire! That was good because that means that he'll live, but it's bad because now we have one pissed off tsundere sick of being a landing pillow! Silas quickly got off of her and stumbled around before regaining his balance. "H-Hey are you alright? I'm so damn sorry! Argh, sheesh I wish I could've controlled my movements in the air. Here, let me help you up." Silas said as he offered Noire his right hand. He was amazed about how he was able to survive the fall, but he was more worried about the person who'd broke that fall than himself at the moment. He was fine, but he didn't know about Noire.

"I-I'm fine! Happens all the time…" She pushed his hand aside and got up to her feet… but then John crashed down onto her just as she got back up onto her feet. This really wasn't her day… Although, she was probably very used to it by now so it was likely that it didn't faze her all that much.

"Urgh… my everything… Silas, how the hell are we still alive?" Reaver asked as he rubbed his head and fanned away the large cloud of dirt that had gathered with the enormous fall. He couldn't hear Noire's muffled protests over the throbbing pain coursing throughout his whole body. Well pain just means that you're still alive so he couldn't complain all that much, he just silently thanked every last deity he could think of that he survived the absurdly high fall that honestly should have killed him.

"That's how." Silas said as he pointed to Noire who was currently pinned underneath the weight of Reaver's body. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl... first he landed on her, then she got up, then Reaver landed on her. Honestly, how terrible can one person's luck be? On the bright side, if her luck is that bad when it comes to everything, that means that she should be easy to take advantage of in games like Poker or Black Jack… wait! Why the hell was he thinking that right now? Bad Silas bad!

"What are you- oh…" He noticed that he'd landed on the dark haired tsundere girl with twin-tails that Silas spoke of earlier and quickly got off of her. "Damn… you were spot on with your description, are you a psychic or something?" Reaver asked as he gawked at the girl who slowly got to her feet… and then frowned when he noticed the incredibly pissed off look on her face. "Wow, looks like you were right about the tsundere part too… Sorry 'bout the landing."

"Please don't tell me there are three of you…" Noire said as she took two steps back just in case… and walked right into the path of a falling acorn. "Urgh, next thing you know the sky is going to fall on me!" Upon saying that, she briefly looked up to make sure that no random pieces fell down on her… or if anything else planned to crash down on her.

Neptune couldn't contain her laughter and to lose all control, bursting out into a fit of laughter that was so great that absolutely no joke in existence was worthy of it. "O-Oh man…! I-I can't stop… bwahahahaha!" She could barely talk and breathe she was laughing so hard. Noire simply sighed and shook her head at Neppy Neps' almost uncontrollable laughter.

"How immature…" Blanc said with a roll of her irritated looking eyes. All this noise was disturbing her focus on her book and there was nothing that pissed her off more than someone disturbing her just as her book was reaching the climax. She tried her absolute best to hold in her anger but holy shit _the noise! _If it even raised a single decibel then she was going to flip out on someone and she didn't care who got in the way! If this kept up, someone was going to die.

"Pooooooooor Noire… do people like falling on you? Or… or are you a people-falling-from-the-sky-magnet? First Neppy, then Nepgear, and now… ummmm…" Plutia scratched her head and turned towards both Silas and Reaver before walking towards them. "Mister people… what are your names?"

"Eh? Oh… my name's Silas, Silas Kain. And him? You can just call him Roadkill for the time being…" Silas said as he directed a thumb towards Reaver who swiftly facepalmed and began muttering something about not remembering why the hell he was called that… Silas rolled his eyes as Reaver spoke and turned his gaze back towards the four girls they'd crashed in the middle of. "And you guys are…?"

"It's not Roadkill! It's John Reaver… sheesh; please excuse my friend, ladies." He said while rolling his eyes before restating the question that Silas had just asked. "But yeah, who are you guys anyways?"

"Meeeeeeeeeee? I'm Plutia! That's Neptune, but I call her Neppy, the pillow you landed on is named Noire, the girl with the book is Blanc, and the last one is Verty!" Plutia said as she respectively pointed at each of the girls as she introduced them, ending with and innocent smile that, for whatever reason, sent chills up and down both of their spines.

"Alright that's enough of introductions… I think you guys have some explaining to do, where did you come from and how the _hell _did you end up falling from the sky?" Noire was understandably a little pissed off at both of them and who could blame her? If two armed men you'd never seen before fell from the sky and landed on you at different times wouldn't you at least be a little pissed off? Of course you would be! If it does ever happen to you though, lay off the drugs! "After using me as your landing pillow I feel like you guys owe me some answers…"

Silas and Reaver both agreed and began to think of what they were doing beforehand… but they couldn't remember… then they tried to think about what their world was like, they knew it was in a state of complete shit but, other than that, they couldn't remember a thing. Lastly, they tried thinking about their lives before falling into this world… but those memories were gone too. 'M-My memories… what the hell happened to my memories?' Silas thought as his eyes went wide with complete shock. "This will sound bizarre but… no matter how much I search my mind, I can't remember a damn thing."

"Wait you too?" Reaver said as his eyes turned to Silas and went wide with the same expression of shock and fear.

_The messenger is standing at, standing at the gate_

_Ready to let go_

_Ready for the crash_

_The messenger_

_Too late for whispers_

_Too late for the blush_

_The past is mercy, when the future's glow_

_(Won't you let it go?)_

_Kneeling journey dressed in a cloak of shadows_

_The hunting's grim for the innocent eyes_

_Communions pray is a cup of sorrows_

_(But faith is colours) But faith is colours_

_For the humbling cries_

_The spirit is over town!_

_Waiting for me to hit the floor!_

_Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!_

_Tonight fate's the red crown!_

_The red crown around your door!_

_Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!_

_The avenger is roaming through, roaming through the land_

_Ready for the clash_

_For the lasting gash_

_The avenger_

_Mothers kissing sons with a staff in hand_

_The bride is shining_

_While the groom is gold_

_(Won't you let it go?)_

_Shining worship choked in a wave of silver_

_The offering's grim for deceivers pride_

_Salvation man is a cup of fire_

_(But hope is the star)_

_But hope is the star on a morning tide_

_The spirit is over town!_

_Waiting for me to hit the floor!_

_Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!_

_Tonight fate's the red crown!_

_The red crown around your door!_

_Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!_

_The pilgrims are gathering and the marching band,_

_The marching band's howling!_

_Compassion is the flag of a righteous man!_

_A righteous man will hold!_

_The pilgrims are gathering and the marching band,_

_The marching band's howling!_

_Compassion is the flag of a righteous man!_

_A righteous man will hold!_

_The spirit is over town!_

_Waiting for me to hit the floor!_

_Blooming white sky for the voice of one! Calling tonight!_

_Tonight fate's the red crown!_

_The red crown around your door!_

_Time's scattering the seeds of the morning daylight!_

~The Messenger By: Your Favourite Enemies

Me: THIS SONG IS FREAKIN' AWESOME! –is too busy rocking out to notice all the weird looks I'm getting-

Noire: What kind of a fanfiction has a theme song?

Vert: Apparently this one…

Neppy Nep Nep: Uh… dude? We're like… on screen and the camrera's rolling…

Me: Huh? O-Oh… that was embarrassing… Errr… a-anyways! Welcome to the Post-Chapter Fire and Ice Talk Show! I am your host –placeholder-!

Neppy Kawaiiness: That's… a long name. Why not just call it Nepstation? After me! The main cha-"

Silas and Reaver: NOW HOLD ON A MINUTE!

Me: Sorry Nep… they're the main characters now…

Saddy Faced Nep Nep: …Huh?

Blanc: She doesn't look like she's taking it too well…

Me: I didn't think she would… Silas! Reaver! Apologize at once for crushing the hopes and dreams of this adorably adorable loli girl!

Silas: We didn't do anything!

Reaver: Silas, our writer is big Neptune fan so there's no way we're getting out of this without apologizing.

Silas: If he is then why isn't she the main character?

Reaver: Good question…

Noire: I actually have a question… your name is John Reaver, first name John, so… why are we calling you 'Reaver' instead of 'John'? Wouldn't that make more sense?

Reaver: -sighs deeply- Let's be honest… John is the lamest name in the world. That and one of the most common…

Noire: That makes sense…

That Poor Sad Nep Nep: I-I'm not the main character…?

Everyone: Remember Mark II?

Blanc: Get used to it… it's not the first time.

Me: I have yet to explain the purpose of this section… this is sort of where we, writers and characters, interact with you, the readers! If you have any questions for me or the characters, feel free to ask! We shall also be responding to feedback and reviews you may leave! Just keep this in mind… this fanfic will indeed have… darker moments. I just feel obligated to let you know what you're signing up for by reading this! The story will indeed take some dark turns so be ready for 'em! Anyways, this is –placeholder- and I shall see you all next time!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2- Amnesia**_

"…I live…?" A man clad in the garb of an ancient time period slowly got to his feet and surveyed the landscape he'd crash landed upon. He appeared to be a middle aged man with a slight beard growing in, the specks of gray within his otherwise night sky black hair helped to add to the older appearance. Although, though he was clearly old, he didn't appear to be the least bit fragile, the gray hair and beard actually made him appear more veteran than anything. Those cold, dark brown eyes of his only served to further add to his militant build… he had the eyes of a hardened killer. But who was he? Going by the fact that he was clad in the armour of medieval royalty, it was clear that he wasn't from this time period at all, even stranger was the fact that this was happening at, more or less, the same time Silas and Reaver were meeting Neptune and the others. How odd… those two looked like soldiers of a distant future, this one looked like a soldier of a long-forgotten past. Were they summoned here by a mysterious force? Were they brought here for a reason? Or was it merely a mistake in Reality? "Why was I brought here…? This… this is not my homeland…" He said to himself as he looked left and right, as though trying to find his bearings. Unfortunately for him, this landscape and plant life was so foreign to him that thinking about it only served to confuse him even more. Suddenly, it was as though he'd had an epiphany, his eyes went wide with a sort of sudden realization. "Could it be…? Is she here? It can't be… but I must search." What could he be talking about…? Was he just muttering to make himself feel less alone or was there some form of meaning behind his words? "Anastasia… if you are here, I promise that I will find you." And with those final words, he set off in the general direction of Lastation.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me…?" Silas' words struck Noire as a bit odd and seemed to draw everyone's attention. Even Neptune, who'd previously been laughing her ass off on the floor, had slowly calmed down and turned a confused expression onto the duo of males who crash landed on Noire at two different intervals. "Did you both land head first? How is it that you forgot something as important as to how you got to the point of falling from the sky? I think I'd remember something like that if I ever fell from the sky!"<p>

"Wowzers! The plot thickens! Oh I wonder what plot twist the writers have in mind? Does it involve me? Oh it's just gotta involve me! After all, I'm the mai-" Sorry Neptune, but you're a supporting character at best in this thing. Silas and Reaver have already beaten you to it. Seriously, didn't we go over this last chapter? "What? Not cool! What about all my adoring fans that will read this just for me?" …I doubt anyone would read or watch anything just for one character… "I can think of a couple of anime…" Wow, looks like I got so carried away with breaking the fourth wall that I entirely forgot that this story had a plot to advance! Moving on!

"I couldn't recall anything as I was falling either, what about you Silas?" No matter how far back Reaver reached into his memory pool, the earliest thing he could remember was the wind tearing at his face as he reached terminal velocity.

Silas waited a minute before replying… then two… then three… His memories reached about as far back as Reaver's, only he had the added misfortune of learning what an insect tastes like. "Neither can I… I have a hunch about where we came from because I just get some feeling but, other than that, I'm afraid that my earliest memory is of falling."

Were these guys serious? Could they honestly not even recall a single thing about the world from which they came? "You claim to have a 'hunch' about your world, care to tell us just what this hunch is?" Vert's interest had been thoroughly piqued, two young men that seemed to have no recollection of their world? Her interest hadn't been simply piqued; it had been skewered through completely!

"Well… if we're carrying these weapons around then it was clearly a dangerous world, all I can think of… or maybe remember, if it is indeed a memory, are the sounds off bombs going off." Silas was still trying his absolute hardest to remember just what his past and world were like, but his mind just kept drawing blank after blank after blank.

"Bombs? Oh! Maybe you were playing one of those first-person shoot 'em up games!" Neptune said as she bounced up and down on her heels, looking up at Silas.

'Well isn't she an enthusiastic girl… I wonder if it's even possible for her to take anything seriously.' Reaver thought to himself before letting out a sigh and shrugging slightly. "It's worrisome, but it's not like our memories could spell the end of the world or anything so why don't we at least figure out where we are first?"

"I can agree with that…" Silas said with a nod before sitting down at the base of a large tree. "Why don't we start with the basics? Where are we?"

"You are in Gamindustri, it's a world pretty much run by the four of us, the reason I only say four is because Neptune here is from a different dimension like yourselves, but you guys clearly aren't from that dimension otherwise I'm certain that you would have recognized her signature stupidity." Noire said as she also made herself comfortable on the same log that Blanc was sitting down on.

"Wait, what do you mean you guys run this place?" Reaver asked as he raised his eyebrow. He may not have remembered the world he came from, but he at least remembered what an oligarchy was. Were these girls the rulers of the whole world?

Blanc gave up focusing on her book at this point and barely managed to bite back her anger. She figured that, the sooner that these guys learned the ropes, the sooner she could go home and continue reading her book. "It's not what you think, we rule separately. There are four countries, I rule Lowee, Noire rules Lastation, thunder tits over here rules Leanbox, and those two airheads are of Planeptune, though only Plutia rules it." Though she tried her best to hide it, she couldn't help but allow some of her pent up irritation to seep into her voice.

"So you're the queens of your countries?" Silas felt that he was getting the feel of it, but he still had a few more questions. How could someone who looked so young as Blanc, or was as much of an airhead as Plutia, effectively rule a country?

"What's a queen…? Am I a queen?" Plutia asked as she tilted her head slightly to the right in confusion.

"Unfortunately no… we may like to think of ourselves as queens and, to an extent, we are. However, there are many key differences between us and queens. We are CPU's, Console Patron Units, not only do we rule our countries, we established them! We are unable to age and take advantage of this by spending most of our time playing MMO's and other video games!" Vert explained as a small smile formed on her lips. She was actually enjoying explaining the basics of Gamindustri to these newcomers; she seemed to love flaunting her knowledge to these people…

Noire gave a sigh and shook her head before opening her mouth to correct Vert's mistake. "That's not true! You, Neptune, and Plutia all use your time to shut in and play videogames, but some of us do actual work! Don't listen to this shut-in… what a CPU is _really _supposed to do is monitor and rule her nation. It's hard work being a CPU, we have to earn the faith of our people. The more faith and followers we have, the more shares we collect."

"Wait what does the stock market have to do with the amount of faith you as a CPU have?" Silas meant it sarcastically, but he knew that he was most likely going to be taken literally. He had figured that it was probably some kind of energy source or whatever but he couldn't help but say at least one smartass remark.

"Huh…? Oh no it's got nothing to do with that! Seriously…" Noire sighed and rolled her eyes. Yep… he was right in his prediction that his sarcastic remark would be taken literally. "Share are _energy, _it's what give us strength! Think of it as a source of power that we have to work for. Without shares, a CPU and her nation will be pretty weak. Just take a look at Plutia and Neptune, they never work and their nation is the weakest out of all of ours."

"Hey we do to work! Did ya' see how we took down that Dogoo yesterday? We totes magotes work!" Despite the serious look and frown on Neppy's face, the way she said it made it sound like she wasn't taking anything she said seriously.

"So, let me get this straight, CPU's are beings that can't age and have the sole purpose of founding and managing an entire nation? Talk about pressure! Aside from the obvious, are there any perks to being a CPU or is it all work?" Reaver asked as he sat down next to Silas. He was starting to understand, but what exactly made CPU's so different from humans?

Neptune seemed to perk back up upon hearing Reaver's question and began bouncing on her heels again in apparent excitement. "Oh! Let me answer this! We have these super-duper awesome and sexy forms called HDD form! Here! Let me demonstrate!" Neptune raised her hand and suddenly, in a flash of light, she appeared to have changed form into a much more… mature figure. Her hair was longer and darker, her chest was significantly larger, and she overall looked absolutely nothing like she originally did.

Of course, due to the sudden change, both Silas and Reaver did a double-take after she took what she called her 'HDD form'. "W-What the hell...?" Reaver said as his head jerked back out of natural instinct and slammed back into the tree. "Who are you and what have you done with that tiny loli that we were just talking to?"

"I… I think that they're the same person…" Silas didn't exactly have the easiest time believing his own words, but what other explanation was there? He didn't remember much of anything, but he was pretty sure this wasn't normal!

"Ha! Look at their reactions!" Noire said with a laugh before standing up and taking a couple steps forward. "Well I guess that, if we're showing off our HDD forms to you, I might as well join in. Maybe this will answer your questions about what sets us apart from humans!" Noire said as a similar light overtook her and she came out, like Neptune, looking a whole lot different. Her hair went from black to white and her outfit changed. Like Neptune, there was little to connect to the form she held previously.

"I see no harm in this… shall we, washboard?" Vert asked Blanc before taking her own HDD form. Silas and Reaver thought there was a lot of cleavage and boob-age before but now? Yeah, most prostitutes wouldn't even be caught dead wearing that getup! Not only was there so much more exposure, but her hair was now green and her breasts had, if it was even possible, grown larger.

"Shut up tits-for-brains…" Blanc muttered before taking on her own HDD form. Unlike the others, she _remained _a complete washboard in this for, it was actually kind of disappointing. Silas and Reaver withheld their disappointment as it looked as though she was _permanently _pissed off in this form! "Happy now bitches? You've seen how we're different from you!"

"I'm… not even going to question the possibility of this…" Silas had given up on making sense of their transformations and just decided to accept what was right in front of his eyes.

"This is what is known as Hard Drive Divinity, HDD for short. In this form, I am known as Black Heart!" Noire/Black Heart said with pride as an arrogant smirk crossed his face. "As you can tell, I both the most powerful and most attractive of all the goddesses in front of you!"

"How arrogant… I am known as Green Heart and, as you might be able to tell, none shall ever match me in terms of bust size!" Silas and Reaver simultaneously recognized the irony and hypocrisy jammed into that one sentence… but whatever. They were too focused on digesting all the information they were receiving to give something as minor as that much thought. Who knew that Vert's breasts could get even bigger…?

"Shut your mouth you walking cleavage before I sew it shut! I'm White Heart and you assholes better not forget it!" A most ironic name for someone with such a short temper… at least that's what Reaver thought as she cracked her knuckles. The figure that had once been Blanc had such a heated gaze that it could melt steel…

The figure that had been Neptune cleared her throat and walked in between both White and Green Heart before they started strangling one another… again. "Please contain your hatred for one another for now… Anyways, while I am in this form I am called Purple Heart."

Apparently Plutia had dozed off in the middle of the dialogue and woke up to see everyone else in their HDD forms. "Oh~! Can I transform too?" Plutia asked as she slowly got up to her feet.

In a split second, fear and desperation filled the other CPU's eyes and they all shouted the same thing at the exact same time: "NO!"

"Awwwww… ok…" Plutia pouted before folding her arms and plopping back down on the log that she had been napping on. "I'm gonna take another nap…" She said before falling asleep again on the log.

"Why'd you stop her? I thought that you wanted to show us just how you guys were so different from us?" Silas said as he stood up and swung his eight and a half foot beautiful, yet advanced, Glaive over his shoulder and slowly walked over towards the girls.

"Trust me… you _don't _want to see Plutia's HDD… it's… scary." Noire seemed to shudder as she thought about the first time she'd ever witnessed that horrible sight… she even still had nightmares about it. The tone she held in her voice made her point crystal clear.

Though Silas and Reaver didn't really know how scary it really was, they decided it was better to be safe than sorry and didn't pry any more. "Well… either way this is very interesting, who knew people such as yourselves existed? Anyways, we should probably get going… if we're going to be living in this realm then we ought to learn our way around." Reaver said with a nod as he stood up and motioned for Silas to follow him away from the sight.

For a few seconds, nobody really objected to them leaving, but then Neptune/Purple Heart spoke up. "Hold on… are you guys any good at fighting? If so, I think we could strike a deal."

As Silas took his weapon off his shoulder and looked it over, something seemed to click deep within his mind… he instinctually recognized the weapon and how to use it. It seemed as though not all of his memories were lost. "Yeah… I know how to use this thing well enough. I'm sort of surprised that I remember, but yeah, I can fight." He gave a nod as he continued to look down at the highly mechanized Glaive, as he looked down on it, a phrase that could be the weapons name popped into his head. 'Beowulf? Is that its name?'

"Same with me, it doesn't seem like I've forgotten how to shoot and swordfight!" Reaver said as he patted his equally advanced blade on the pommel. Like Silas, the name of his weapon seemed to flow through his head as well… 'Minerva… how the hell am I able to remember this but not everything else?'

"Now that is rather interesting… I suppose we can help you out if you agree to help us out." Neptune/Purple Heart said as she carefully examined the weapon that Silas held in his hands. She'd never seen anything like it… it seemed like it had so many functions in that one weapon! She was impressed by the machine gun function at the end, but it seemed like the spear had a couple other capabilities that she was unable to identify.

"Neptune is this smart? Is part of your human forms stupidity leaking out? Sure they have interesting looking weapons, but if they don't know how to use them then they'll only slow us down." Noire/Black Heart said as she raised her eyebrow skeptically. She felt a strange energy coming from the two and she wasn't sure what to make of it…

"If they can't fight then we'll know right away." Vert/Green Heart said with a smile as she sat back down and crossed her legs. "If they don't turn out to be competent, then at least I can take that beautiful spear from his body! I'm sure that my darling sister would _love _to take apart that piece of technology!"

'At it again…' Neptune/Purple Heart thought as she rolled her eyes before exiting her HDD form. "So what do you say? Wanna help us kick some serious butt?"

"First I want to know what we're getting ourselves into if we agree!" Reaver was a little surprised at the sudden personality shift, although he wasn't as shocked as he was when she first took her alternate form.

"That's easy peasy! We kick all kinds of monster butt! C'mon guys, help us out and you can hang with us and stay with us!" Neptune said as she plopped down on the grass and looked up at the two of them with sparkling eyes. She seemed… awfully energetic about this…

Vert exited her HDD form and gave a slight chuckle. "I can never get over just how different your personalities are… Anyways, the more the merrier, will you help us?"

'Doesn't seem like we have many viable options here… We don't have any money to afford a place to stay and these girls are offering us a roof over our heads, how can we refuse?' Silas thought before turning to Reaver who gave him a slight nod, confirming that he was in agreement with his line of thought. "We accept." They both said at the exact same time.

"Woohoo! Two more party members!" Neptune said as she somehow managed to get instantly up from her seated position and began jumping with joy. Seriously… what was this girl on? "Hmmmm… oh! I know! Why don't you guys stay at Lady Lonely Hearts place?"

"I-I am not lonely…!" Noire said as she exited HDD and turned a glare onto Neptune. "I have plenty of friends! It's not like I want anyone else to stay at my Basilicom or anything!"

'Yep, he was _spot on_ with her description…' Reaver thought in response to Noire's protests.

"You guys should learn that, when noire says 'no', she really means 'yes'!" Neptune said, completely ignoring Noire's rampant protests to both Silas and Reaver staying at her Basilicom. "You are totally going to get along!"

Seeing that Neptune kept talking over her and that her protests weren't getting her anywhere, she finally just gave up and rolled her eyes. "Fine! Stay at my place, but you'd better earn your keep or I'm kicking you both out!" Ah the tsun of the tsundere… Silas was sure looking forward to this… someone with as much tsun as Noire would be quite fun to mess with, that much was for certain.

"Ha! No problems here, we'll do the cleaning; we'll even keep your room tidy for you!" Reaver said as he let loose an internal sigh of relief, with the protesting he thought that they'd never get a place to stay…

"N-Not my room…! You can clean everything else, just not my room!" Noire said as her eyes went wide. What? What was the matter with that?

* * *

><p>"What is this place…?" The man clad in armour said to himself in a tone of shock and awe as he looked over a city with architecture the likes of which he'd never seen. Everything looked so slick… it was absolutely nothing like what he was accustomed to. "Not even a wall? Just… just what world have I set foot into…?" He asked himself before shaking his head and slowly allowing his eyes to fall closed. "…It matters not… if I am here, then surely fate has decided to reunite me with Anastasia, I must find her…" And with that, he descended down the hill and towards the large city known as Lastation.<p>

* * *

><p>Me: Ladies and gentlemen! I apologize dearly for the late update, holidays have kept me busy… But now I have returned with the second chapter for Fire and Ice! Ah I'll tell you… correcting these chapters brings back memories, believe me when I say that I've written way more than just the two chapters I have up currently.<p>

Noire: I don't think anyone cares so long as they get to read it. Just… try and update a little more frequently. You're so eager to show off the plot of this fanfiction and you can't even get up two chapters in a reasonable amount of time? You'd better fix this…

Me: Yeah yeah I know… I can't wait for the plot to actually get underway, the beginning is always boring to work on.

Silas: Oh! Which one of these spoilers should I give back to the audience…?

Me: Y-You…! I had Neptune guarding that! How the hell did you manage to get it?

Silas: She's passed out in a pudding coma, that's what you get for making that her payment…

-suddenly… a black cloaked figure appears before all of us-

Totally-Not-A-Bad-Guy: Greetings to you all…

Blanc: …Who's this freak?

I-Swear-I'm-Not-A-Villain: I go by many names… I am the one nobody knows, yet I am the one everyone sees. The eyes of the people gaze over me as though I do not exist, yet I am always there, watching. The one who whispers into the ear of the writer, planting seeds and evil thoughts all throughout their mind… I am… the co-writer.

Noire: C-Co-writer…? First this fanfiction has an opening and now it even has a co-writer? Just what's going on here? Why wasn't I informed about any of this?

See-I-Told-You-I-Wasn't-A-Bad-Guy: I bid thee all farewell… -fades away-

Reaver: Well that's going to require some explaining!

Blanc: Aren't we forgetting about that question? You'd better answer it before you forget and this whole post-segment becomes meaningless…

Me: Oh yeah, forgot about that, thanks Blanc. We have a question from a guest reviewer named, and I quote: "FlyingRatrod"… I'm not even going to ask where that name came from, you know what? I'm just going to call you Mr. F.

Reaver: He's asking if you're names is really 'placeholder'…

Everyone: …You did not…

Me: …Goddammit of all the mistakes I could've made it had to be to leave in the placeholders! Shit! No, my name is not placeholder! That was from back when I couldn't decide on a name for this account and I was writing the first post-chapter segment. I put that in as a placeholder and forgot to replace it! I feel _so _stupid right now! To answer your second and third question, this segment is primarily for questions, and I will update at my own pace (whatever that entails).

Blanc: Pfft… an amateurs mistake. A professional writer such as myself would never do such a thing.

Silas: Blanc, your writing is awful.

Noire: U-Ummm, end this segment now!

Blanc: Oh that is it! You did _not _just say that! –engages her HDD mode- Any last word before I grind you to dust?

Noire: Hurry up and end this!

Me: O-Ok…! Sheesh! Ummmm, well, this did not end as I planned, but I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter. Trust me, more will follow so keep an eye out! This is Fragarach97 (not placeholder) and I'll see you all next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3- Ivan IV**_

Light cast from stagnant flames, flat roads that weaved throughout the infinitely tall buildings… to this man, this representative of the past, it was as though he had set foot into a world not his own. Mechanized contraptions shooting down the lit, black roads, each one of them piloted by human beings. Slick structures that reached towards the heavens above, standing taller than any fortress, castle, or tower that he'd ever seen. This place was completely foreign to him, yet it struck him with awe. When was this place? Was he even in the same realm? All these questions and more filled the armoured man's head as he cautiously walked down the moonlit sidewalks of the highly advanced city. "Who is that guy and what's up with the armour?" Somebody asked as they gazed at him from afar.

"Try not to stare… he's probably a reinactor just going home." The person next to them said as they continued walking down the streets.

He was starting to panic inside, so many people whispering about him, so many things he didn't know. Were they plotting to kill him? Were they planning to steal everything from him? Who were they and what were they planning? He didn't know and that's what was causing him to go into an internal panic… "I can't risk killing them preemptively… are these people even plotting to kill me? They may not be." He muttered to himself before taking a detour down a dark alley as to avoid their stares. However, before he could even move ten feet into the alley, four people emerged from the surrounding darkness to block him on both sides. "…What do you want?"

"What do we want? Isn't it obvious? We want your money, old man! Drop your wallet and whatever else ya' got on ya' and you'll live. Put up a fight, you die. Simple, eh?" One of the people said as they wound up for a swing with their bat, as though he were anticipating a fight from this battle-hardened looking man. The person they intended to mug looked strong, but they were confident as he didn't appear armed, looked lost and confused, and it was four on one.

"…Do you have any idea who I am…?" What appeared to be a grin crossed his lips as a muffled chuckle escaped them. 'Such foolish boys…' He thought to himself before opening his mouth to explain just who the hell they were dealing with. "I am Ivan IV! If you don't move aside I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to dispose of you, now move yourselves!"

By now, people had gathered at the mouth of the alley to find out what was going on. They had heard this man named 'Ivan' shout his threat to these muggers, thus drawing their attention away from their daily lives and towards the racket he had caused. Upon hearing Ivan's proclamation, the four muggers burst out into uncontrollable laughter, only one of them was able to talk, albeit barely. "G-Get a load of… dis psycho! A-A'yo! It a'int duh Medieval Times anymo'! Now gi' us all yo shit! Or we beat yo face in!"

It seemed none of the bystanders intended to assist him, despite his status, so Ivan sighed and pointed a finger towards the lead male. "It seems that you leave me no choice… I warned you this would happen if you did not obey. Now die." Upon saying that simple word, a word that beckoned the reaper himself, a blade shot up from the sidewalk and stabbed the male right through the gut. It was a blade made of the very same concrete that composed the area on which they walked…

"Wha' duh fu-" The mugger didn't even get to finish his sentence before a fissure seemed to open and close right under his very feet. It was as though the earth itself gave into its hunger and decided to sate itself with the taste of flesh and bone. The sentence was replaced by an incessant scream that echoed through the streets, raging down the alleys and boulevards, seeking the attention of all those who held the ability to hear.

The other two muggers and the crowd of bystanders began to sprint away, but Ivan seemed to have different plans for them, plans that set a look of sorrow deep within his eyes. "I plead your forgiveness, however I cannot allow for any witnesses." With a snap of his fingers, blades of earth shot out like a trail of spikes right towards the crowd, cutting them down like a lawnmower cutting grass… the cries for mercy were muffled by masks earth that seemed to engulf their heads so they wouldn't make a sound and draw any more attention towards the one named Ivan. When all the sound stopped and the bloody street was once again quiet, Ivan dropped to his knees, clasped his hands, and began mumbling a plea for forgiveness towards the blanketed sky. A silent plea that echoed throughout his mind, one directed towards a god as foreign to this realm as he was.

"Hey you!" Came a shout from the other end of the street followed by the sound of someone running towards him. Footsteps that echoed down the street, a good Samaritan rushing to confront this remorseful killer.

In his mind, Ivan could hear the man's screams as a blade of earth pierced his lungs, it would be easy, but… "I've killed enough for today…" He said as a giant pillar of earth rose from the ground and lifted him to the top of a building. Upon reaching the top, Ivan could vaguely hear the sounds of approaching sirens, causing him to instinctually run across the roof. Even though he had absolutely no idea what the sounds belonged to, his battle-forged instincts told him to get away from that sound as fast as he could if he did not want to have to kill more people. "This place gets stranger by the second…" He said as he leapt across the rooftops towards nowhere, just away from whatever fate awaited him back where the sirens were. Eventually, he was certain that he'd escaped from whatever was chasing him and just sat down, panting heavily due to exhaustion. "Those fools… they deserved to die. They ought to know who I am… but, then again, this clearly is not the world that I am accustomed to." He let out a sigh and sat down on a ledge atop a building and looked out at the enormous city below… "Whoever rules this land, I must meet them. Perhaps they'll know whether or not Anastasia is alive here, whether or not she was reincarnated in this realm…"

With that he stood up and began to listen to the people down on the streets, perhaps listening to them would tell him what he needed to know about this new realm… "Have you heard? There's been a mass murder here in the city! It happened a mere ten minutes ago too! My husband just texted me saying he saw someone fleeing the scene." A gossiping lady said to her friend as they walked by the building Ivan was on, unaware that the killer they spoke of was within spitting distance. He was close enough where he could silence them whenever he so desired, yet he let them talk.

'That's surprising… I can't believe how fast such news spreads here.' He thought to himself as he raised an eyebrow in both amazement and confusion. Usually, in his realm and time, it would take hours for knowledge of this sort to spread, but it had only taken a matter of minutes here.

"Are you serious? I've heard of a few thefts and muggings in this city before, but murder? That's rare news here… I hope they've already caught the person. I mean, I know it's only been ten minutes, but maybe they found them at the scene." The ladies friend asked with worry apparent in her voice. Unfortunately, that killer she wanted brought to justice was listening to every word she was saying.

"I honestly doubt it, but I hope Lady Black Heart does something about this… she's not usually one to allow such an abhorrent crime go without severe punishment!" The lady said just before exiting Ivan's hearing range. He was interested to hear where the conversation went after that, but he'd heard enough, he'd learned just who was in charge of this place and that was enough for him.

"Lady Black Heart… I see… she must be the person in charge of this city, although it is most intriguing for a woman to run such a place." He said to himself as he stood up and began walking towards the back of the building and towards the enormous, oddly shaped structure he'd spotted earlier. "That must be where she resides, it is the largest building here after all… I must speak with her." Not only was it customary, at least back in Ivan's world and era, for nobles to speak with one another upon arrival in their territories, but he needed to know why he was here. Was it truly to find the woman he called Anastasia? Did fate have some other plan for him? What was he supposed to do? So many questions that he wanted answered and he was certain that this person titled 'Black Heart' would be able to provide him with the answers he sought. Although, there was a minor problem… he'd killed a bunch of her people ten minutes ago, but if she truly lived up to the title of Black Heart, then he doubted that she would have a care in the world. "I'm certain that such things don't even warrant her attention." He said to himself as he reached the opposite edge of the building and began to judge the distance between his current location and the large, oddly designed building. "It would be impossible to approach that place without being spotted. It seems I'll have to bide my time to meet the lady in charge…"

* * *

><p>"So… this is the power those documents were referring to. I'm actually amazed that we awakened to it as quickly as we did. I thought it would take much longer."<p>

"…We aren't the only ones who've arrived; our old retainers along with another anomalous existence appear to be in this realm as well."

"Is that so? I suppose that simply watching and waiting for _them_ to awaken wouldn't hurt… By the way, how are you able to sense such things? We both only just awakened to our power…"

"I don't know, I can just feel their presence, can you not feel it? They stand out like black among white."

"Now that I open my mind, I can sense them, doesn't seem they even know of our existence yet."

"Then let us wait until they awaken, once they do we shall move. As powerful as Ivan is, he stands no chance whatsoever against us or them. We'll wait for them to take him out; in the meantime, we must let our bodies grow accustomed to this power."

"Hmph, not a bad plan. Even if they awaken next week, they'll still be exponentially weaker than we are. Our bodies will have had a much longer span of time to grow used to this power, even if it is a mere week."

"Don't forget about our pact, surely you don't think you can accomplish your ambitions alone, do you?"

"Of course not, I'll honour the agreement we've made. You can count on that."

* * *

><p>Everyone: -stares at me intensely, each one of them with personal variations of a disturbed expression on their face. Naturally, Blanc's is somewhat… bland-<p>

Blanc: Hey! Who you callin' bland?

Noire: U-Uh… did people just… die in this chapter? The source material is all fluffy and cute… and you write people dying in the third chapter?

Me: Didn't I warn you? I said in, literally, the first chapter that this fanfiction would be dark. Maybe you should've paid more attention to that because things will get darker from here, but I promise that it won't revolve around death… much.

Neppy-nyan: Wowzers… this kinda reminds of the Con-

Me: -my hand shoot over her mouth, muffling her words- Never… mention… that ending… again…

Reaver: Hmmmm… this is all very suspicious. It might be The Co-Writers fault. I mean, with the way he was introduced he just screams 'I'm the bad guy!'

Silas: I honestly doubt that, remember that his name before his identity was revealed was constantly denying that he was a villain?

Reaver: That makes it even more suspicious!

Me: Cool it you two! Sheesh… we're not here to watch you two argue. We're here to address reviews but, before that, there's something I have to say…

Blanc: Make it quick.

Me: Alright then. I'm just going to say that I am just about finished writing this thing. No, there are way more than three chapters so don't worry. I just have to say that, looking back, I have improved greatly as a writer during this project, or at least this first part of a project. So, to all you reviewers saying that this is pretty good so far, just wait because the fun has just begun! I hope you all enjoy reading this series as much as I'm enjoying writing it!

Noire: Are you done? We kind of have to get this thing up there for all the impatient readers…

Me: I am, so let us start with a review from 'Blade Wolf98'. Let me start by saying, I love your username.

Blanc: Get on with it.

Silas and Reaver: Yes, get on with it!

Neppy le kawaii, Noire, Vert, Uni, Nepgear, Rom, Ram, Kei, Histoire, Arfoire, Copypaste, Pirachu, Rei, Satan, Pedo-Bear, and Dan the Ice Cream Man: Yes! Get on with it!

Me: Heh… had to make that joke at least once… Ok then! I'm glad you like it so far and I can understand that you may not like Fourth Wall humour, it's generally hit-or-miss with people in my experience. Anyways, I can ensure that it won't be anywhere near as prominent in later chapters, it's only in the early ones where it has a noticeable presence, but I don't let it run rampant.

Noire: Thanks for the review!

Blanc: Next.

Me: Let's see… 'Unicorn 359'! Let's address your review. Thank you for taking time out of your day to post a review on this. Well the fact that you think it's pretty good so far is… good, for lack of a better word. As I promised earlier, it will only get better so stick around! As for what you said about Silas and Reaver going to live in Lastation, I won't say what that's going to lead you but I _will _say that things are going to go wild. Just wait for the later chapters, you'll see what I mean.

That-guy-from-last-chapter: Hm… I see you have finished the reviews prior to my arrival… I should have been quicker.

Neppy Nep Nep: Hey it's the obvious villain!

The Co-Writer: So it all begins… the great struggle of the supernatural that shall tear the world asunder. This is where it starts, I look forward to watching this tale of destruction unfold… -The Co-Writer vanishes into nothingness-

Silas: …The hell was that about?

Me: I dunno… I sort of just let him say and do what he wants, he is The Co-Writer after all.

Noire: I bet everything wrong that goes wrong in this fanfiction is his fault! Oh I going to make him _pay _for what he did to my citizens!

Me: Uh… that was Ivan's fault but… ok this is getting way too long so I'll just end this here. Thank you all for reading thus far! I hope you all stick with me for the duration of our long journey. If you do, thank you in advance. Oh yes! You don't just have to ask me questions, you can also ask the characters questions, they are as open to questions as I am. So don't be shy! Anyways, this is Fragarach97 and I'll see you all next time!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4- Rising Tension**_

The first night staying with Noire wasn't exactly a fun one, when Noire said that she wanted them to earn their keep she totally meant it! From the moment they'd entered the front doors, they were worked like mules and didn't get a seconds rest, she made them clean every last square nanometer. Every part of it except her room of course… for whatever reason. Honestly Silas didn't see a reason a question it, everyone has something they don't want others to find out, he could respect her privacy is she had something that she wished to hide. What was Noire doing as Silas and Reaver slaved over making sure that everything was sparkly clean? Paperwork. Silas was actually amazed at how mountainous the insurmountable pile of paperwork on her desk was and wondered if she had someone who helped her with that. Though, if there was that much for her to do then probably not. Now it was seven thirty in the morning and Silas was all showered and dressed, it took him a bit of time to find his way around the winding halls, but he eventually found Noire still sitting at her desk polishing off the last bit of paperwork. "Damn… did you sleep at all last night?" He asked as he offered her a plate of French Toast that he'd made for her, he'd already had his in the kitchen that he swore was on the other side of the damn building.

"How could I sleep when there's so much to do…?" She said with a yawn while motioning for him to put it down on the desk. She gave a sigh of relief as she finished off the last piece of paperwork in one of the piles. "Finally…" On cue, she fell asleep immediately after uttering that word, the once daunting pile of paperwork lying next to desk completed… at least one of them was; there was still the aforementioned Olympus Mons of paperwork.

"Huh… she must've been really tired." He said as he opened a nearby window and checked the temperature outside. It was beautiful day with a cloudless sky… he wondered if Noire was going to sleep through it or if she was going to wake up in a few hours only to do more work.

"Morning… she asleep?" Reaver asked as he walked into the room with a small plate of breakfast food.

"Yeah, but she just fell asleep so try to keep it down…" Silas said quietly as he took a sip of the glass of water that he'd brought with him. He wondered if every day went like this for Noire, working night and day to complete piles of paperwork the size of redwood trees. If so, then he felt kind of sorry for her, responsibility as a CPU aside, he felt that she deserved a break.

Suddenly, the phone on her desk began to ring and Noire swiftly awoke to answer it. "Yes…?" She asked with an exhausted sigh, she finally got to sleep only to be awoken by what she assumed would be more work. How annoying… but this came with being a responsible CPU. Suddenly, she seemed to be snapped out of her exhausted stupor, her eyes wide and full of astonishment. "What the…? Why wasn't I informed of this when it actually happened? Somebody is fired!" She shot out of her seat as she spoke to the person on the other line. She went from dead tired to fired up in a matter of microseconds… something must've happened to piss her off. "They thought it was late… that's a bullshit excuse! I'm on my way, and tell whoever fed you that excuse that they're fired!"

"What happened?" Reaver asked as Noire shot to her feet. From comatose to bitch in three seconds flat, that's gotta be some kind of record!

"A mass murder… fifteen people dead. Whoever has the balls to kill my citizens is going to have them cut off! You two are coming with me, I don't trust you here alone." Noire said as she stormed out the Basilicom, her fists clenched so tight that she'd draw blood from her palm if she gripped any tighter.

"And if the killer is a girl or a transgender male?" Silas asked as he followed her out of the Basilicom, grabbing his Glaive just in case he needed it, if a maniacal killer was on the loose, then he figured that the best course of action right now was to arm himself just in case he met them.

"You're not funny…" Noire asked as she flashed Silas a quick glare before continuing to quickly walk down the street. The killing didn't occur too far from her Basilicom… whoever this killer was they were bold, she'd given them that. She was the kind of person who didn't tolerate any killings at all, let alone crime period. She had a very low crime rate in her nation because the punishments for the crimes were so horrid that putting them on here would cause to censor us! "Urgh, first I don't get any sleep and then this happens?"

"And whose fault is that?" Silas felt strangely comfortable and desensitized to the fact that fifteen people were dead. He wasn't sure why but… he didn't feel very affected by it, he was just concentrating on seeing how much he could push Noire's pretty little buttons.

"Silas… shut up…" Noire growled as she spotted the yellow tape of the crime scene. Silas wasn't helping her irritation and she knew that all she was doing was making him satisfied. 'Great, now I have a smartass under my roof…' She thought as an investigator spotted and approached her.

"Lady Black Heart! I'm glad you've arrived, as you may be able to tell, this isn't any ordinary murder scene, the victims seemed to have been killed by the very earth itself. Four of the victims seemed to have been armed with improvised weaponry so they probably tried to mug the wrong person but… I don't understand who could've done this." The detective was spot on when he said that it looked like the earth had killed them… blades of earth had impaled seven of the corpses while the others had masks of rock over their faces that had shallow scratches marking their surface… and how can we neglect that massive pillar of earth that was level with an adjacent building?

"I've met mages before, but this is some high-level stuff. Just look at those masks… whoever they are, they're clearly a skilled mage. I was told that there was one witness, what did you get from him?" Noire asked, trying to ignore the horrid stench of the corpses. She could understand why they were left there; such a bizarre crime scene must be looked over thoroughly before the bodies were moved. At least they were moving them now so she wouldn't have to smell the rotting flesh for much longer.

In the meantime, Silas and Reaver were shocked at the scene of the crime. When they arrived, they expected bullet wounds or maybe knife wounds, but this? Perhaps they weren't shocked as they feel they should be, but they were still amazed at the fact that it looked like a form of magick had slain all fifteen of these people. Hell, they were still trying to sift their brains for a logical possibility but they couldn't come up with anything that would make sense. Did the sidewalk turn into a brutal killer? The more they sifted through it in their minds, the less sense it made. "He told me that he saw a middle aged looking man clad in armour, dark hair with a bit of gray… that's all I've got. He's also got a good alibi, he'd just left a Night Club and the bouncers confirmed it, he wouldn't have the time to do this." The investigator said as one of the bodies was carted past him, the stench caused Noire to turn away.

"A guy in armour huh? Well that should be pretty easy to spot, any other sightings of him?" Noire asked as she waved away the oh-so-delicious smell of decaying bodies with her hand, her disgust evident by the look that decorated her face.

"No, but he definitely escaped to the roofs, these guys died around eleven at night so there's a chance that he's still up there, it's not like many buildings in this city give ready access to their roof… it's likely that he's trapped otherwise I'm pretty sure we'd hear reports of pillars of rock suddenly rising from the ground to help some guy in armour down off the top of a building. What are your orders?" The investigator asked as he looked up towards the roof of the building, as though looking for any signs of a guy in armour.

"Do you guys have any satellites in orbit? If so, why not use them to scan the rooftops and streets for his presence, if you did a good enough job in circulating his description then there's no way he'd try to take shelter inside a populated building…" Silas suggested as he helped himself past the yellow tape and into the crime scene. He sat down on a nearby bench causing the investigator to flash him an icy glare.

"And who do you think you are? I was talking to Lady Black Heart! Get out of here! This is a crime scene!" He said as he marched right towards Silas and directed a finger outside of the yellow tape.

"He's with me and so is his friend over there! Hmmmm… and his idea wasn't that bad, contact your precinct and tell them to use the satellites to find this guy. When you do, tell me where he is, I'll take him in personally…" Noire said as she cracked her knuckles. Though she put on the guise of someone ready to take the killer out, and to be fair she did want to be the one to take him in, her fatigue was evident and there was no way she could hide it. "And get me some coffee while you're at it… cream only."

The investigator nodded slowly and took out his phone while walking towards a coffee shop across the street. "Hey… are you alright? If you want to head back to the Basilicom and rest we can take him out when they report on his location…" Silas offered as he stood up and walked over towards Noire.

"No I'm fine! It's not like I needed more sleep, I'll be perfectly fine…" She said it, but her expression didn't match her words at all. "It's my responsibility as the CPU of this land to make sure that it's laws are properly carried out, making excuses about being tired will just make me look weak and I don't need that. Shares will plummet if my people don't think I'm strong!"

"It's not an excuse if you really are exhausted, and you are so don't try to deny it. Like Silas said, we can take this guy in once he's found…" Reaver said as he walked to Noire's other side and placed a hand on her shoulder only to have her slap it aside.

"Don't touch me…" She said as the investigator walked over with a cup of coffee in hand. "It's about time… I'm so thirsty." She snatched it away from him and took a long sip of the searing hot drink. It nearly cauterized her esophagus, but

"There was a long line, anyways I got in touch with the people back at the station and they are using the satellites to track him down as we speak." The investigator said as he took a small sip of the coffee he'd gotten for himself. "Are you sure you can trust these two though? They don't look like they're from around here and why are they carrying those weapons around?"

"Is that any of your business?" Noire asked as she wiped a bit of coffee of her chin before taking a smaller sip, feeling much more awake now that she had some caffeine in her. "If you have any better ideas then tell me."

The investigator sighed as the last body was placed in an ambulance. "I'm just saying that you should be more careful… anyways, I'm going to go make sure that none of the rookies are screwing around." He said as he walked over to where a few other Lastation police officers were.

Noire gave a sigh and a roll of her eyes before sitting down on a bench and looking around at the rest of the crime scene. "Looks like this is just going to turn into more paperwork that I'm going to have to fill out… and here I thought that I could take a couple of days off…"

"You can always take a break, isn't there anything you do for fun? Don't you like to hang out with the others? That's what you were doing yesterday." Reaver asked as he looked over at the earthen spikes that once propped up the dead bodies of a few Lastation citizens, now they were being carefully dismantled and taken in as evidence.

As though it were a joke, Noire let out a slight laugh and shook her head quickly before speaking. "Them? Two are slackers, one spends weeks on end playing MMO's, and the last ones technology is so outdated that cavemen were more advanced than her! I can't associate with them if I want to keep up my image…"

"Ha! You _are _a tsundere… You say that, but I think you secretly enjoy hanging out with them, I mean it can't be any worse than just sitting around doing paperwork all day now can it?" Silas asked as he sat down next to Noire and folded his hands back behind his head. What could be worse other than paperwork? It's like the paper equivalent of torture! Countless trees were slaughtered to make them. What she had been filling out were the remains of poor trees! Some young with their whole future ahead of them, others old and wise, but it didn't matter for they were all sacrificed to create the supreme evil that is paperwork.

"Who cares what you think?" Noire retorted simply as she folded her arms and crossed her legs, just waiting for any word on the killer… she was in the mood to cut someone up into tiny pieces, preferably the killer. Right now, she didn't want anyone to talk to her. Usually she was a tsundere, but when she angry her tsun levels just spiraled out of control

"Lady Black Heart! We have word on the killers location!" The investigator said as he ran over to where Noire was sitting.

"Well it's about time…" A smirk crossed the dark haired girls lips as she stood up and took on her HDD form. "Where is he so I can tear him to pieces?"

* * *

><p>Me: Eh… I remembered this chapter being better. Oh well, I made a few edits and improvements so I guess it's a little better than it was. Still not that good…<p>

Roadkill: Well let's wait and see what the readers think, ok? Wait hold on… you are _not _calling me Roadkill!

Everyone: -simultaneously points at Roadkill- Roadkill!

-it suddenly starts raining semi's down on Roadkill-

Roadkill: Wh-What the hell…? –runs to avoid them all-

Blanc: This is so stupid… can't we just get to the review already? I need to get back to Lowee so I can finish writing my fanfiction.

Silas: But it sucks! Have you guys even read the storyboard? It's just cliché after cliché after cliché… Hell, the villain is even worse than Exdeath! That's right! Worse than Exdeath!

Blanc: Argh… you little ass! –takes HDD- I'm gonna bash your brains in you smartass son of a bitch! Get the hell over here! –starts chasing a laughing Silas as the troll song plays in the background-

Me: That was a bit harsh… Anyways, onto the review! So everyone's favourite unicorn has left another review! Let me just say that bad things will happen, by bad I mean _really _bad! But I won't say what, I'd rather leave you all in suspense, waiting for horror to overtake your body, mind, and soul as you witness every last person you've grown to love drop dead before your very eyes!

Noire: Th-That's a bit morbid.

Me: Ah I was kidding! Still though, you're all going to have to wait and see what I have planned, I just hope you enjoy the story I'm weaving.

Roadkill: There's no way he'd- ah what the hell! –nearly got crushed by a falling panda-

Me: Alright everyone! I've come up with a little game for all of you readers to play as this story goes on! It's called… Spot The Reference! What is it? It's exactly what it says on the tin! Each chapter, I'd like you to identify as many references as you picked up, quote them, and say what we were referencing. At the end of Act I, me and The Co-Writer will tally the reference count. Whoever gets the most references, wins! What do you get from winning? We'll ship you a platter of cookies!

Roadkill: Wait, what? –barely gets out of the way of a falling Eiffel Tower?

Me: Ah they may go bad… hmmmm… Oh I know! I'll send you my own personal Noire dakimakura!

Noire: Y-You have one of those disgusting things?

Me: …I was kidding… Anyways! I'll leave you all here, keep reading, and keep being awesome! Also! Using outside sources for Spot The Reference will earn you negative two Reference Points! Play fair, and have good day/night! This is Fragarach97, and I bid you all farewell.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5- Anastasia?**_

The city, once echoing with the joyous voices of the citizens, was now overflowing with the wailing sirens of police, each and every one of them searching for him. Yet where could he go without bringing attention to himself? He knew he was stuck on top of these buildings and couldn't get down without use of his magick, which would of course cause people to notice him. He realized that he probably could've gotten down last night or this morning, but he was feeling especially cautious and thus didn't feel comfortable moving from the tops of the buildings, on top of that it would only attract attention which was, again, not what he wanted. This viewpoint also gave him a better opportunity to examine the world he'd somehow ended up in… he was able to keep his cool over how advanced it was in comparison to his time period because, at first, he thought himself to be dead and this to be his heaven, but he soon realized he was wrong. Those foolish boys who attempted to mug him closed the lid on that idea, such evil did not belong there… Though he knew that this was not the afterlife, he still felt obligated to search for this person he called Anastasia for some unknown reason… Either way, right now he was just completely amazed by the futuristic architecture and the way people carried themselves and dressed. It was outlandish to him and he was starting to internally panic… "Stay calm… I need only adjust to this new world." He told himself as he walked along the rooftops, hopping across the narrow alleyways when he was certain that no one was looking. He barely got any sleep last night as he was being hunted like a rabid dog. So far the only thing he picked up was that this 'kingdom', at least he assumed it was a kingdom, was called Lastation and was ruled by someone named Noire, but others seemed to refer to her as Black Heart. Going off of this, Ivan assumed her to be a tyrant… but he couldn't say for certain as he had yet to meet her.

Ivan let out a sigh as he sat atop a flat-roofed building and looked out at the stress-inducing cityscape. At least to him it was stress inducing… just how far in the future was he? Was he taken here on a mission from his god or were his wishes of being taken to where his Anastasia was finally fulfilled? He didn't have much time to ponder the thought as he began to hear a faint noise… it sounded almost like something was blindly hacking through the air at intense speeds and in rapid succession. "What the…?" Suddenly he saw two forms coming right towards him and they were both in midair. One of them is what you and I would call a helicopter and what he would call a 'flying thingamajig'. The other seemed to be a sort of human… was that… a woman? "Is… that an angel…? A daemon? What in the…?" He was finally able to make out details, a white haired woman with technological wings carrying a most unwieldy looking weapon, he could tell, even from this distance, that her eyes were a storm of anger that was ready to thrash against him.

"You're going to pay for killing my citizens you disgusting old man!" She shouted as she picked up speed and made a dive, her great blade seeking to skewer the veterans' heart. Two figures leapt out of the helicopter carrying far more realistic looking weapons, he could identify one of them a stylistic Glaive with sort a Dragon motif. The other one carried an advanced longsword in one hand and some sort of firearm in the other… he wasn't certain, he was too focused on evading the diving attack the lady had launched at him.

"So you must be Lady Noire, I've been aiming to speak with you!" He said as he performed an acrobatic move that should be causing intense cramps for someone of his presumable age. "Tell your men to lay down their arms and we can have a logical discussion here…" He said as he crafted a curved blade of solid stone and took a defensive stance. "I hold no desire to harm you, so…"

"Silence you murderer!" Noire shouted as she came back for another couple swings, swings that Ivan this time attempted to block, the first one went through his earthen blade and the second one he flipped over before the blade was even in motion. "Stay still and let me kill you!"

Ivan danced out of the way of the strikes, moving like a master of the skies, though his magick was one bound to earth. Though the great sorcerer dodged into the skies to evade the blade, he was now at the mercy of Silas, a warrior who fights best when not bound to earth. "You're mine now…" Silas said as he chased Ivan into the air and smashed him with the hook end of his Glaive right in the chestplate, sending him back down to the ground. "An earth mage like yourself should leave aerial combat to those of us suited for it!" He said as he came down with intention of pinning Ivan to the ground right through his throat.

The dancing sorcerer of the earth dodged to the side just in time for the blade to plant itself right in the ground next to his face. Silas began to attempt to pull it out and Ivan smashed his fist into the ground, a sudden jolt sent a piece of the concrete roof upwards and Silas flying into the air. "Damn!" Ivan cursed as he felt an intense pain in his lower leg, he looked down and realized that he'd been shot and realized that Reaver was still firing at him. "How annoying… leave this to the royals you peasants!" With a wave of his hand, the face of the building that Reaver was standing on and that Silas had landed on seemed to begin to sink into the earth and collapse. Ivan got up and picked Silas' Glaive out of the ground and pointed it at Noire. "Tell me, Lady Noire, what does the name Anastasia mean to you?"

"Shut the hell up!" Noire threw a slash right towards Ivan's exposed neck only to have her blade slide right down the metal shaft of Silas' Glaive. 'I… didn't cut it? I usually cleave right through ordinary weapons… what's that thing made of?' She thought just before Ivan countered by slamming the butt end of the advanced weapon right into her face. He noticed a sort of lever with a guard in the design on dragon wings on the lower end of the Glaive and pulled it only to activate the machine-gun function of the Glaive. Caught off guard by the fully-automatic fire, he dropped the weapon and scrambled to avoid a slash of Noire's blade.

'What the hell was that…? Dragons' fire?' Ignorance of the advanced technology lead Ivan to confusion and that confusion lead to an opening which Noire swiftly and expertly exploited. She raised her blade and went for a splitting blow right on his skull; she would divide him, separating his left side from his right. "Not so fast…" He said as her blade was caught on both flats by two curved pillars of earth. "Almost had me there… but not quite…" As Noire struggled to get her blade free, Ivan let out a slight laugh and snapped his fingers. A chunk of the ceiling shot up and smashed Noire right in the stomach, winding her. "Consider yourself lucky we're atop a building and not on the ground…" He said as he kicked the recovering Noire once again in the abdomen.

Meanwhile, Silas and Reaver were running up the staircase, seeming to have sustained only minor injuries from their large fall. They didn't know how they managed to survive that… a fall like that would usually be enough to kill a human with ease. "Hurry the hell up! Noire's in trouble and I left my Glaive up there!"

"Would you shut up about your damn spear?" Reaver shouted as he followed close behind Silas. Their opponent was truly one of great skill… he managed to collapse the whole face of the building and could probably have the earth swallow it whole if he was standing on the ground. Of course he was worried about Noire… but he couldn't shake his curiosity about just who the hell this guy was that they were fighting. "Here's hoping she'll be alive when we get up there… we don't know what either of them are capable of so we'd best not take any risks."

"I know that… we have to finish this quickly before he decides to make an earthquake!" Silas said as he reached the twelfth floor… only eight more to go now… but would they make it in time to fight by her side?

Noire gasped as she felt Ivan's foot strike her, she was just getting more and more pissed off at this guy with each passing second… Ivan wound up to kick her a second time but this time she recovered and grabbed his leg. "Not a second time you asshole!" She shouted as she pulled him to the ground and went to punch him in the face only to punch a shield of concrete that he'd created in a haste to defend himself. Now he may have been able to stop that fist, but Noire's other fist met with his gut and left him partially stunned. Breathing heavily, Noire got to her feet and pulled her sword loose of the earthen grip that Ivan had summoned to catch it. "Infinite Sl-"

"Brutal Earth." It was a battle of who could say the name of their technique quicker and Ivan's had fewer syllables so of course he beat her to the punch. Suddenly, the building itself began to quake and Noire collapsed, unable to keep her balance, yet Ivan stood up, seemingly unaffected as the building seemed to sink into the earth. "I honestly hoped that you wouldn't fight me… you brought this on yourself you fool." With that final remark, Ivan brought his foot into Noire's stomach one last time. At this point, Noire didn't have enough energy left to maintain HDD so she exited the form and was left gasping. Suddenly, Ivan's eyes went wide and he stumbled backwards. "What have I done…?" He said in a hushed tone as the building stopped its descent into the jaws of the earth below. "I… I knew it but… oh my god what have I done? Please tell me you're alright…"

Noire seemed equally shocked about the sudden change in Ivan's demeanor, he had went from someone who was sadistically kicking her while she was down to someone who looked to genuinely fear for her safety. "Cr-Crazy old man… just what the hell is the matter with you…?" She asked through coughs as she managed to scramble to her feet, yet she didn't seem to have enough energy to hold her sword.

"You do not recognize me, Anastasia? It is I… Ivan… how can you not remember me?" He asked as he slowly approached Noire who seemed to be having trouble gathering the strength to raise her sword against him. "What happened to you? That form you took, are you… possessed?"

"Anastasia…? Possessed,,,? You r-really are… crazy… I'm Noire, not wh-whoever the hell… Anastasia is…" She gasped as she gathered enough strength for an exhausted swing of her blade which didn't even appear to faze Ivan in the slightest; he simply erected a small barrier and sent the strike to the side.

"…I understand now… Noire, release the soul of my Anastasia! You daemon… however long you've possessed her body, it's been long enough!" He said as he conjured a blade of earth and directed it towards Noire's throat. "Release her or I'll make you release her!"

"Noire!" Gunfire echoed as Silas and Reaver reached the roof and Silas grabbed his Glaive up and off the ground. "Get away from her you bitch!" Silas shouted as he opened fire. grazing Ivan's cheek with one bullet, yet striking him dead center with a whole lot of others. The force of the continuous fire caused him to stumble backwards and eventually fall off the edge of the building. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Silas asked as he placed his weapon over his shoulders and rushed to Noire who was struggling to get to her feet. The last thing she wanted was to look weak, especially after losing to Ivan when he was at, what was supposed to be, a large disadvantage.

"Just… a couple scrapes…" She said as she struggled to stay on her feet, but she failed and fell back into Silas who caught her and tried to help her up. "I-I don't need your help…!" She said as she got back to her feet and walked over to the edge of the building.

"Don't worry, we filled him with lead, there's no way he'd survive that… You need to get looked at, you look like you've taken a serious beating… that and your people have gathered around this building like they're expecting a concert." Reaver said as he walked over to Noire and patted her gently on her heaving, bruised and bleeding shoulders. None of them were expecting that… they were just glad that they weren't fighting him on the ground otherwise they might not have survived that encounter at all. "Did you get anything from him? Did he say who he was?"

"All I heard… was that his name was Ivan… a-and he kept calling me Anastasia…" Noire couldn't keep it up anymore; she collapsed in exhaustion, falling into Silas' arms once again. He knew she was bound to collapse at any second so he was just waiting to catch her.

"Ivan and Anastasia… why do those names sound kind of familiar…?" Reaver muttered to himself as he immersed himself in his own thought even as the sounds of ambulances and rescuers grew closer.

"We can focus on making sense of it later… for now we need to make sure Noire gets properly treated." Silas said as he lifted Noire up into his arms and began to walk down the staircase.

"They have fought with Ivan, the sorcerer…"

"And? Have they awakened?"

"No… they barely managed to repel him, to make it even worse for them they were supposed to be at an advantage here…"

"That's interesting. In due time I'm sure they will; in the meantime we should focus on becoming our own people, completely independent from them."

"I still think we should kill them now, isn't waiting for their awakening a bit dumb? I'd rather kill them now and take the risk before they become a problem."

"We would've done that already if it was that simple… if we kill them at this juncture, we'll rejoin with them and, as we've yet to develop identities of our own, when we rejoin with them their personalities will become ours once again and everything we've done thus far would have been for nothing… We can't have Ivan kill them either for that same reason."

"I see… here's hoping that we develop our identities before they awaken."

"Aye… we shall slay them the moment we have the opportunity to do so, I can promise you that. It's just far too risky to do it now."

"Ha… who knows? Maybe the identities we develop will be merciful or foolish… there are no guarantees…"

"You are correct… but, as I said, we cannot allow the sorcerer to kill them either."

"Trust me; he has no interest in them… His only interest is in the girl, apparently he thinks her to be his deceased wife."

"What a fool… though he may not have an interest in them, he still nearly killed them, we ought to kill him but… we'd run the risk of revealing ourselves."

"And what if they are able to slay him instead?"

"Then that's good. One potential problem out of the way…"

"I doubt he'd pose a threat to us, but yeah, I'll play your waiting game for now."

Neppy-nyan Neppy Nep: Gee Lonely Heart… looks like you've got a small problem on your lonesome little hands.

Noire: Sh-Shut up Neptune! I am not lonely, this isn't a problem at all, I was just tired was all! You remember what they said last chapter about me being exhausted and not getting enough sleep, don't you? Or is your skull that thick?

Me: Ladies ladies! Claws away, it's time for us to get to our reviews…

Blanc: Pfft… the irony, looks like everyone decided to stop reading this failure of a fanfiction.

Me: Speak for yourself! Anyways… -checks the mail box- I-It's… empty? What is this? I can't even… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO –three long hours later- OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Neppy the kawaii loli: It was actually only ten seconds, but the writer wanted a bit of exaggeration so… yeah… Speaking of writer… where's The Co-Writer?

Reaver: No, not The Co-Writer… I hate that guy with a passion. He freaks me out… seriously, why did you make him The Co-Writer?

The Co-Writer: I have come…

Reaver: Wh-What the…? Where the hell did you come from?

The Co-Writer: You summoned me by saying my name three times. So what is that you all desire?

Noire: I want you to stop getting the writer to kill my citizens!

The Co-Writer: Mhmhmhmhm… that I cannot do. Watching them squirm in agony as they wait for their inevitable demise is one of my greatest joys in life. Watching the life flee their eyes is pure ecstasy; it is truly a beautiful sight that I shall never relinquish.

Noire: What the hell is wrong with you?

Super Lovable Loli Nep Nep: I want pudding!

The Co-Writer: That is within my power… -reveals 'pudding'-

Kawaiiness Incarnate: Awesome! –seizes the 'pudding' from the hands of the grinning Co-Writer-

Me: Uh… Nep? I wouldn't eat that if I were you.

I Wanna Glomp Her: Huh? But it's pudding! The most deliciously delectably delicious thing in the whole wide world!

Me: It's green and bubbling, I doubt that that substance is pudding.

Nep the cutie pie: Awwww… fine… -pouts and puts the 'pudding' away-

The Co-Writer: Hmph! My schemes have been foiled! For now at least, mark my words writer, I shall have my vengeance on you for daring to stand in my way! We will meet again… -fades into nothingness-

Silas: That was a bit freaky… So… what now?

Me: I guess I'll cut it off here. Alright guys! Thank you for bearing with me through this chapter and expect more in the future! I hope you are enjoying this so far, and remember, the fun has just begun! This is Fragarach97, and I bid you all farewell!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6- Aftermath and Explanation**_

The sound of sirens and the scent of dust, the ruins of the great skyscraper laid in front of Noire, she certainly had the wellbeing of her citizens, however her wounded pride throbbed within her mind. 'He got away…' 'I'll catch him next time!' 'He's going to regret ever crossing me!' She thought that maybe Ivan would turn up dead after having his chest riddled with bullets and falling off a building, but they failed to find a body. Noire was so pissed off at the moment that no one nearby attempted to get her statement, they didn't want to have to deal with all the additional tsun that she seemed to be radiating off of her. "What's taking so long? If it were me searching for him I would've already found him!"

"Sorry ma'am, but we can't seem to find him on our satellites, and the search parties haven't reported back yet!" A nearby police officer said as they hung up their phone and gave her shrug before taking a few steps back.

"How annoying… even if they did find him he probably would've killed them, and the pile of corpses would grow ever steeper! We've got to find and topple the man on top before he adds even more bodies to the pile…" Silas said as he shooed away a medic who insisted on looking at him even though he didn't appear injured in any way. To their credit, he _was _nearly crushed under a metric ton of rubble and fell of a building that was so slowly having its foundation torn apart by Ivan's earth magicks. One might expect both Reaver and Silas to be severely injured, but they seemed like they had fallen five feet rather than five hundred.

Reaver sighed as he polished the slide of his gun before putting back in his jacket. "Hate to say it, but I think he's gotten away this time… you said that he seemed to know you though, right? Chances are that he'll try to get in touch with you, so all we have to do is wait for that to happen, right?" He asked as he looked over towards the remainder of the building that once stood tall on the street corner. Now it was nothing more than an eradicated heap of rubble… 'Can't believe he managed to do that while off the ground, we'll have to be careful the next time we meet this guy.'

"I don't know what sort of drugs he was on, I've never seen him before and he goes on acting like he knows me personally! No wonder he killed people, he's a lunatic! I just hope we find him soon so I can avenge my citizens…" Noire could almost hear the sound of her Shares nose-diving… She just wanted to hurry up, find Ivan, and kick his ass so she could mend her wounded pride and recover the Shares she was losing.

"Just let her cool off a little, Roadkill, if you can't tell by that look on her face, she's more than a little shook up by her defeat at Ivan's hands. I'm sure that you and I can expect a lot more chores in the coming days…" Silas said quietly as he took Reaver aside so Noire could maybe calm down a little, but that wasn't the most likely thing to happen. "Let the tsundere be tsundere-y… or whatever."

Reaver groaned at the nickname that he hated oh-so-much; he wished that he had his memories back so he would remember just what happened to get him such a nickname. Oh well, he knew that Silas was going to do whatever it took to piss him off so complaining about it would only make it even worse. "Yeah yeah… we were going to have to do chores anyways, what difference does it make?"

"Well the difference is it's a couple more chores we have to do, you dumbass…" Silas said with a chuckle as he walked over and looked at the ruins in front of him. He could hear the sounds of rescue parties and the pained cries of the wounded. 'He was able to bring down the face of an entire skyscraper and probably could've collapsed the whole … Ivan, huh? He isn't going to be a piece of cake… but how the hell can we handle such a powerful sorcerer? The three of us couldn't defeat him and we had the edge! If I'm right, we won't stand a chance if we fight him on the ground… we _have _to find a way to win otherwise he might just keep killing, and there's nothing we can do.'

"Silas? Are you alright?" Reaver asked as his friend just seemed to space out, he appeared overwhelmed by the tide of his own thoughts. He was looking right at the remains of the skyscraper, so it was obvious what he was thinking about. He understood his worry, but he felt that thinking about it would only serve to stress him out.

"Huh…? Oh yeah, I'm alright." Silas said as he snapped out of his daze and shook his head to get the thought of just how powerful Ivan must be out of his head. He knew that there was no use in thinking about it now, right now it would just stress him out. Right now he just needed his rest… "Hey you! Cop that the writer isn't bothering to give a name! Are we free to go now? The plot isn't here anymore so…"

"Yeah I understand… go ahead to wherever the plot may be." The nameless cop said as he waved both Silas and Reaver off.

"Noire, you ready to go back to the Basilicom? We could use a bit of rest after what happened up on that skyscraper… or eighth of a skyscraper now." Reaver said as he stretched out and looked over towards the alleyway where Ivan's body should've been, but wasn't. He would question how anyone could survive a whole magazine of bullets to the chest along with a fall like that, but he had already survived a couple of pretty serious falls, so he wasn't as surprised as he might have been if this happened yesterday.

"Of course I am! That paperwork isn't going to do itself you know…" She was going to have her hands full… mass murderer on the loose, skyscraper in ruins, a powerful terrakinetic, and top that off with her dropping Shares, she was struggling to hold it all in her faltering hands. In just one day she had gone from top CPU in Gamindustri to completely burned out… She wished that she could rest but, as she said, someone had to take care of all the paperwork. So they hiked on back to the Basilicom and, when they entered, they were greeted by the sounds of games and childish laughter that could really only belong to one person. "Neptune what are you doing here?"

Noire grunted, walked down the hall, and opened up the door to reveal Neptune and Plutia duking it out in a fighting game. "I'm sorry... I really tried to stop them…" Histoire said before going back to berating Neppy and Plutia for playing the games without permission and whatnot.

"Do they always do this?" Reaver asked as he looked in on the two girls who didn't even seem to acknowledge Noire standing in the doorway.

"Seri-… oh my god… look at that tiny little thing! She looks so cute! I can fit her in the palm of my hand! She's so tiny!" Silas said as he pushed his way passed both of them and picked up the super tiny Histoire, gently tugging at her to cheek and see if she was real. "Why are you so tiny? It's so cute!"

"St-Stop tugging at my cheeks…! Put me down!" Histoire said as she tried to scramble free of Silas grasp, a deep crimson hue decorating her otherwise pale and tiny face. "Do you treat everyone you see this way? Stop it!"

"Huh? Oh hey guys! I didn't notice you got back! Sorry, 'bout not calling, but Histy dragged us out here! It would've taken forever for her to get here by herself!" Neptune said as she paused the game and looked back at Noire with her signature, super kawaii smile on her face.

"Awwww… Neppy why'd you pause it? I was winning… Oh, hi Noire!" Plutia said as she waved towards the irritated looking tsundere in the doorway.

Ok, first she learns her citizens have been killed, then she loses in battle to the perpetrator, and now Neppy and Plutia were helping themselves to the snacks and games in her Basilicom. In case you readers don't have minds of your own, that means she's pissed. Like, no joke Blanc-level pissed! Only she was able to restrain her anger… "What are you doing here? Histoire, you had them bring you here, right? Well how about you hurry up and tell us why? I've got paperwork to get to!"

"She wants to talk about Es-purr cats! Nya~!" Plutia said as she made a pawing motion with her hand. "I reeeeaaaaally like cats, so I decided to fly here with Neppy! She didn't let me transform though…"

"Plutie… if you call them cats again Histy might get all pisty!" Neppy whispered to Plutia, glancing over at Histoire as though checking if she heard Plutia.

"Espers? I thought that even their existence was just some far-fetched theory that nobody can really prove…" Noire said as she raised an eyebrow partially out of confusion and partially out of curiosity. At first she didn't give a shit, but now she was interested, the idea of Espers had always interested her even though there was very little proof that they existed.

"Yes… are you two Silas Kain and John Reaver? Neptune and Plutia told me that you two fell out of the sky at the same time." Histoire said as she turned her gaze to Silas, who had put her down, and Reaver. Silas was tempted to pick her up and play around with her again, but he managed to resist the temptation.

"Yeah… that's us. Before you ask anything else, we'll have you know that we don't remember anything about our world, all we remember is our names, our weapons and how to use them, and that we know each other somehow." Reaver said with a shrug as he got comfortable on a nearby couch, he got the feeling that this exposition might take a while…

"I was told that too, it's possible that the two of you were summoned by residual magick left over by long extinct beings that we believe were called Espers. When I heard about the two of you, I tried to think of an explanation, so I thought it was similar to when Neptune appeared, but… something feels different, and after a bit of going through my records, this is all I really came up with." Histoire said as she caught her breath, all that exposition tired out her little lungs… she knew that this would take a while longer, so she might as well take a breath while she can.

"We met a guy today… a powerful mage who called himself 'Ivan', he didn't seem like he was from this world so do you think that he was also brought here by the Espers magick?" Silas asked as he was locked in an internal war, he wanted to pick up the adorable, little, bite sized, fun sized, teeny tiny Histoire and play with her some more, yet he knew it was wrong; thus he warred against his urges, valiantly fighting them back and preventing their advance.

"Probably… the oldest document in all of Gamindustri mentions them, other than that, not much else is legible, aside from descriptions of their power. They were described as beings with enough power to part the seas, surely a race that powerful would leave some form of magick in their wake. Unfortunately, I can't show it to you because it's in a museum in Lowee." She said with a shrug as she took a couple mini steps back from, he was honestly scaring her… She'd never been treated like a doll before and she never wanted it to happen again, she could already see the nightmares she'd been having for the next couple of weeks.

"Yeah but I bet we could steal it easily, Lowee is so outdated that I bet even the world's most incompetent thief could take it without a hitch." Noire said with a shrug as she looked out the window and towards the place where the large skyscraper once stood, her mind wandering between her people, Ivan, and the current conversation with Histoire.

"I'd rather not try that, Noire… at least we have a possible reason for us being here, makes me glad that the Espers, or whatever they were, are extinct now." Reaver said as he inwardly sighed with relief that the Espers, or whatever they were, were extinct. If they couldn't deal with Ivan, then chances are that they wouldn't even hold a candle to the ones that brought them here.

Silas gave a sigh and stood up before looking out the large window at the silent city below. Average citizens and bystanders who didn't appear to have a care in the world about what was going on right now in this city carried on their daily lives, blissfully ignorant to the hell-storm that was to come. He took the moment of silence to look down at his weapon and simply ponder what information he was just given. 'So I have some answers but… just where the hell did I come from? And why can't I remember?' His thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a tiny, soft finger poking his forehead gently. He snapped out of his state of thought and was greeted by the sight of Neptune repeatedly poking his forehead. "What are you doing?"

"Wowzers! I thought your face was going to be stuck like that forever!" Neptune said, seemingly shocked that she had caused him to react. "You were making a totally weird face and I wanted to see what would happen if I poked it!"

"I understand… but there is no use in worrying all that much about your origins now, are there not more important things for you to give your attention?" Histoire said as she flashed Neppy a death glare, causing the girl to take a couple steps back.

"You're right… there's a murderer on the loose in Lastation and we've gotta earn the right to stay here." Silas said as he walked away from the window, the weapon he wielded resting on his left shoulder as the sunlight reflected off the gleaming steel surface. "However… why don't we just allow the police to do their jobs and bring the guy in? He's a powerful sorcerer, yes, but a bullet to the head kills everyone just the same."

Noire grunted and walked over to Silas, when she got close she looked right up at him with frustration in her eyes. He could tell he struck a nerve just by looking at her, but he didn't know what it was he said that set her off. "Are you kidding? I don't know how it works in your world, but here us CPU's are responsible for the safety of all of our citizens! I can't leave this lunatic to the police, he tried to act like he knew me as well and I want to know why! I'm not weak, today was a shameful display and the only way I can regain the faith of my citizens is to bring him in, dead or alive!"

"Hey… relax, I didn't mean to sound like I was questioning your strength! I just don't want you getting hurt is all… we ought to approach this guy with extreme caution and a strategy in mind, going in guns-a-blazing against him would earn us a trip down the highway to hell." Silas said, trying to sound as calm and collected as possible. In truth, he was frustrated too, he didn't want more people to die and he didn't want those who did die to not have their killer brought to justice… but he honestly didn't know why.

"And leaving him out there will only get more of my citizens ki-"

"Both of you calm down! We won't catch this guy if we're busy bickering with one another! We still have guests here after all and I doubt they have any interest in hearing about the affairs of this country…" Reaver said as he stepped in between both of them, trying to create a divide before this became a screaming match.

"Exactly, we only came to inform you of what brought you here. As fascinating as Lastations' affairs are, and you'd certainly serve as good role models for Neptune and Plutia, we have our own country to run. Neptune! Plutia! Quit jumping on Noire's couch! We're heading back to Planeptune, you have Shares to raise!" Histoire said with a roll of her eyes as she looked over at the two airheads and motioned for them to walk with her out the door.

"Awwwwww… but we just got here! Can't we at least take a forty eight hour nap first?" Plutia said as she put on her pouty face and got off the couch along with Neptune.

"Yupperonis! You don't mind if we stay and jump some more, right Noire?" Neptune asked as she turned, both figuratively and literally, to the dark haired tsundere for help. "Pretty please with loads of pudding on top?"

"I've got a pile of paperwork taller than the both of you and the last thing I need is you two distracting me, so you're going to have to leave…" Noire said with a shrug as she looked over at the mess the two girls had made of her couch and rolled her eyes while groaning inwardly. "Reaver, Silas, I'm going to need the two of you to pick up after the mess these two have made."

With a grumble, both Silas and Reaver began to pick up the strewn pillows and set them back on the couch and reorganize everything. As Histoire dragged Plutia and Neptune out of the Basilicom, Noire walked alone down the hallway, eventually sitting down at her desk which had a heaping pile of papers set atop it. "Ivan huh…?" She muttered as she picked up a pen and began to sign her name on a bunch of papers, not even bothering to read half of them as she already knew what most of them were about. Even as she signed papers that had nothing to do with Ivan and the earlier incident, she couldn't shake the thought of his face from her mind, the feeling of his foot meeting her gut, and the sound of his voice as he called her 'Anastasia'… Eventually, she clenched her fist around her pen and snapped it in anger. "Now I know what to put on his tombstone…"

Blanc: How long has it been since the last update?

Me: Yeah I know it's been a while… but I had exams at school as well as some family stuff to take care of, but that's out of the way now so I can get back to posting and writing. For those of you still reading, I'm sorry for the wait, but I hope you can understand where I'm coming from. School isn't easy, especially when there's math… I hate math.

Noire: This isn't about you complaining about numbers and variables, this is supposed to be about us characters reacting to the chapter and reviews!

Silas: Speaking of the chapter, I see you finally got to the chapter that you've dreaded having to post for the past couple weeks… how'd it feel to finally look over and correct it?

Me: It… it was pretty bad. Fortunately The Co-Writer was there with me to help me correct some of the especially ugly parts of the chapter so I guess it's presentable! Meh, it may just me being my worst critic though; I can't really tell cause of the lack of reviews.

Noire: You're turning this into the Whining Writer Show again…

Me: Whoops! Sorry about that…

Noire: -sighs- It's fine, I can understand if exams have you a little depressed.

Roadkill: I don't exactly remember what mine were… oh we are not doing this again, are we? But nothing's falling on me so I guess this is a step up. –is instantly crushed under the weight of a piano- You bastard…!

Me: Ha! I was waiting for just the right moment.

Roadkill: Wh-Where do you even get these…?

Me: Oh you know, they're half off at Nepmart… What do you think? I'm the writer! I can do whatever the hell I want!

Silas: So you have omnipotent powers…

Me: Theoretically, yes.

Silas: You can do anything you want…

Me: Obviously…

Silas: So, instead of magically clearing everything up, you decide to waste your time and potential crushing people with pianos and various other objects?

Me: Exactly!

Silas: …I like you.

Blanc: Urgh, end this before _those kinds of fangirls _rear their ugly heads… who knows what abhorrent creations they'll come up with to satiate their urges?

Noire: Kinds of fangirls…? Oh… I see what you mean. Vert's one of _them _too, isn't she.

Blanc: That's why I want to hurry this damn thing up.

Me: Yikes, I never thought of that. Yeah we're ending this _right now. _I can already hear their ominous footsteps approaching.

Roadkill: But I'm still under a-

Me: Nobody cares! Anyways, I'm just going to end this right now, those footsteps are getting way too damn close! Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll see you all next time! Bye-bye! –runs the hell away-

NOTE: I finally got up and uploaded a cover for this thing! A friend of mine made it for me and they are currently designing more art for me. I may even ask them to do the cover for Act II when I get to it so keep an eye out. If need be, I shall henceforth refer to them as 'Min', no that is not their real name.


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